Henry George Instititute-courses in Economics

Three excellent courses with only a small charge for materials are offered by the Henry George Institute of New York online or by mail. "During his lifetime, Henry George became the third most famous man in the United States, only surpassed in public acclaim by Thomas Edison and Mark Twain. His supporters included Leo Tolstoy, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and John Dewey, to name a few. " He wrote "Progress and Poverty" -a landmark text in political economics.
The 3 courses offered are Understanding Economics, Applied Economics, and Economic Science. A certificate is awarded after each course and when all 3 are completed a Certificate in the Principles of Political Economy is awarded. A teacher is assigned to each student and I found them to be very helpful, prompt and knowlegable.Note:" The Henry George Institute is not authorized to grant academic credit. Any granting of such credit for our courses would have to be taken up with the accredited institution with which the student may be associated. Information on our courses will be provided to such institutions upon request." Could be added to a portfolio. I found the courses interesting and challenging.
The courses look at issues as free trade, what causes inflation, unemployment and depressions, the fallacy of overpopulation as a cause of poverty, taxes -specifically a tax on land among many economic topics. A course in Liberation theology is also offered.
There are Henry George Institutes in several cities and countries around the world where one can take the same above courses and others onsight. (Chicago, Philly etc) at no or minimal cost.
http://www.henrygeorgeschool.org/links.htm
To access info on these courses -specifically the 1rst course "Understanding Economics" go to :
http://www.henrygeorge.org/

 

No Real Estate courses?

 

No -no real estate courses- these courses look at important issues as why there is poverty in the world when there are enough resources for all (distribution problem) how overpopulation is an excuse for poverty ( when countries as the US, India and China develop economically with high populations) and a single tax system - a tax on land stimulates production.
It is relevent to a large number of disciplines - social psychology, sociology , economics, history, business and religion -to name a few. You know -the kind of things Live Aid tried to focus the world on a few weeks ago -Henry George focused on these issues in the late 1800s.

 

If he was OK with John Dewey then I'll have to give him a look. Beyond that I'll have to confess that I've never heard of him before. Thanks for the tip.
Jack
(so many books, so little time)

 

Thanks for the response: The school was initially founded in New York City in 1932 by a businessman and supporter of Henry George named Oscar Geiger. The philosopher John Dewey was the School's first honorary president.

Although not regionally accredited the school in PA. is chartered by the University System of the State of New York It cannot award degrees. However, the school is authorized to award certificates of completion. Students who satisfactorily attend the School's core curriculum in political economy are considered graduates.
I had never heard of him either. He is mentioned in Economic courses but these schools devote their entire attention to his work. I hope you will find him useful and if you're reading great books Progress and Poverty is available in an abrdged edition at :
http://www.henrygeorge.org/pplink.htm

 

Have seen ads for this institute for years in such rad-lib pubs as UUA World, Mother Earth, The Humanist, The Progressive, New Republic, etc.

 

What next? Social Credit?

 

Don't really understand Uncle's comment-aren't poverty, distribution of wealth, overpopulation and the use of land in production worthy topics of study-especialy given the unequal distribution of wealth in the world?

 

I think Janko is making a little joke. Henry George's 19th century ideas (e.g. of a single land tax) were later supplanted in the first part of the 20th century by the next hare-brained concept: social credit.

And we've had many other hare-brained ideas since then!

 

Could someone clarify what exactly Henry George's single land tax was about? Wasn't it one of the early versions of modern-day Robin Hood economics?

 

Tax land and nothing else.

As opposed to the current policy of taxing land and everything else.

As I recall, it's like 'soil socialism' amidst an otherwise laissez-faire economic system.

 

Henry George was one of a number of Utopianists of the late 19th century, quite a popular social trend of time (Edward Bellamy, Frank Baum, Eugene Debs, etc.).

I wonder how balanced these courses in economics are or whether they--and the Institute--are simply a vehicle for Georgist propaganda.

Just curious.



marilynd

 

The word propoganda may be too strong but the goal is to bring his thoughts into view. We have the single tax as an issue today (Steve Forbes). As one of the great thinkers of his day his work is still relevent and worth studying as we would study other past economist or social shapers as we still do with Freud, Adler etc.
His theories touch on many disciplines as I mentioned before. His theory is not socialism -the word utopian was used in a prior post. As Live Aid showed many believe we have the power to feed the hungry and distribute the wealth of the world more evenly- so this is up todate. He gives a way to do it and disputes the thinking still relevent today-that overpopulation are the causes of poverty, looks at technology and how it affects labor, free trade so much more. If nothing else these courses make you think and are equal to any college course in depth and work.

 

There are surely many libertarians who would agree. But you have to live someplace and when every someplace is held commonly by all humankind...well, I think the door is open to squelch all individual activity. Maybe that's why the socialists named in this thread were willing to embrace Georgism; as the key to the collective.

And maybe we're seeing just that in our time. As property rights erode so do individual rights. The key to the collective?

 

I have no problem with studying George academically. Progress and Poverty is indeed a classic. (BTW, not all utopians are socialists.)

It's just that your original post made it sound as if these courses were general introductions to economics. I just wanted readers of this thread, who might not know George or the subject, to understand that this is economics viewed through the Georgist lens (as their Web site makes abundantly clear in different ways), not a more balanced introduction to economic thought or economic history that one might find in typical American colleges--or that course titles such as "Understanding Economics," "Applied Economics," or "Economic Science" might imply.

Regards,

marilynd

 

Yes these courses are from the Georgian perspective which differs from the viewpoint of other economists. (Just as any school of thought does) You might say a "specialized look at economics" or a more comphrehensive look at one theorist's work. You do not need any prior coursework in Economics to understand these courses. Those are the course titles and the text used in the courses are all works by H.George. These text are " Social Problems" , Protection or Free Trade" and The Science Of Political Economy" Readings are done, you are given a list of questions to answer ( essay , short answers) and they are returned to the teachers who grade them , comment and return them.Ten lessons per course- handouts and websites links are part of the course. The questions bring relevence to the topics of today. With the debate of outsourcing jobs to other countries, the global economy and the debate over our import-export imbalance this is contemporary stuff. Shows George was ahead of his time in thought.

 

Oops! That should have been Mother Jones, not Mother Earth.